Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
How often have we heard it said that beauty is in the mind of the beholder, that it has no objective existence of its own? The proof offered by some is that abstract art has an appeal unmatched by representational art, whereas others see “objective” art as obviously superior to the “empty forms” of abstract[…]
As some may know, I am on a pilgrimage-holiday, first to my native Scotland (whence I write at present), then on down to Rome. Hence, the writing and publishing may a bit erratic over the next while, as I do what I can with limited internet with a limited ‘smart’ phone, alas. So be patient,[…]
Paula Adamick in her article today, in her usual vivid way, connects the cultural trajectory from the ‘long, hot summer’ of 1968 to the one we are experiencing now a half-century in 2018, which would have a year of science-fiction to those back then. Things have turned out more fiction than science, and more dystopia[…]
On January 10, 1963, the Hon. A.S. Herlong Jr., a judge and Democratic congressman from Florida (1949-1969) read a document into the U.S. House of Representatives record entitled Communist Goals for Taking Over America. The contents remain in the Congressional record to this day. The document was reviewed the same year by the U.S. Senate[…]
A blessed feast of Saint Benedict to all our readers! Although the whole monastic tradition predates him by several centuries, going back to such early figures as Pachomius and Anthony, Benedict did write the most famous rule for monks, in which he mitigated the severe penances of the Irish monks (always given to extremes). His rule[…]
I have an article published on Crisis magazine, on the spiritual purpose, even the necessity, of ‘pilgrimage’, which take various forms, from the explicit walking journey, through hills and vales, to the more ordinary daily ‘pilgrimage’ we make to our local church. Feel free to peruse, and feedback is always welcome. There is a personal[…]
Carl Sundell has a very a propos article today in Catholic Insight on the remarkable Frank Sheed (+1982), a Catholic lay apologist who emphasized the need of a properly formed intellect not just to demonstrate the rationality of the faith to others, but also to live it oneself. The loss of intellectual formation is one[…]
Frank Sheed (1897-1982) was born in Australia to a Presbyterian father and a Catholic mother. Reared a Protestant, at the age of 16 he was received into the Catholic Church. He practiced law but turned to writing Catholic apologetics and publishing Catholic authors. Much of his skill as an apologist was acquired by encountering passersby[…]
(A sermon of Father Daniel Callam for this Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time) A theme common to Ezekiel and Saint Mark, the readings we have just heard, is the necessity of faith—and, be it said, the difficulty of achieving it. The history of the Jews is a catalogue of the sin of idolatry, i.e., of[…]
Today is the feast of Saint Thomas, the Apostle, who gets a bit of a bad rap as ‘doubting’ Thomas, a term is that needs a bit of refining (and I see it often used in a rather ambiguous manner, even in erudite and orthodox circles): To ‘doubt’ in the theological sense requires that one[…]
